Troublesome Cargo
by Echoa
Summary: The crew and passengers of the Eagle are running out of Fol, and Cliff decides to accept an apparently easy task of taking a girl from Luna Base to Expel. Little does he realise the trouble she'll cause...
1. Job Discovery

**Title:** Troublesome Cargo

**Parings: **Cliff/Mirage, Cliff/OC, Fayt/Maria, Albel/Nel

**A/N:** My first online fan fic, and in terms of personal (unreleased) fan fiction, the first to be structured for the chapter system here at Written off the back of a day dream which decided to manifest itself, I also need to thank every author that I have reviewed up to this point in time. Without your brilliant examples, I am certain this story wouldn't come into being, so thanks.

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"Think it's worth it?" Mirage asked as Cliff strode over to the flashing monitor in front of the Eagle's pilot. "Let's face it, we need the money." Cliff smiled broadly as he read the scrolling text. "And anyway, a new passenger could be fun!" Mirage sighed and shook her blond head, as if she'd heard it all before in some shape or manner. Rising from her seat, she followed Cliff into the dining area where Fayt, Nel, Albel, Maria and Sophia were talking, eating or in Albel's case, glaring at the wall in front of them. Peppita wasn't on board as she was busy performing with her family and Roger stayed with her as her 'personal bodyguard'. "Hey, shut up!" Cliff demanded as he strode into the room. Mirage managed to slip in quietly behind him and take a spare seat at the table in the middle of the room. "We're going to make a quick buck by acting carrier to a little lady on Luna Station over to Expel. Quick, easy, and a high pay out. Any questions?" Nel promptly raised her hand. "What information do we have on the 'cargo'?" "Named Leios Corrigan, age unknown but appears to be around 25, human and apparently special in some way or manner." Mirage chipped in before Cliff could open his mouth. Albel rolled his eyes in disgust. "Not another maggot." Cliff turned to Albel and grinned widely at him. "Get used to the idea, blondie, she's coming onboard tomorrow!" Before any more protests could be made Cliff left the room, hands firmly on hips. Sophia stared wide eyed at the spot where Cliff once stood, still sucking the spoon she was using to eat a tub of strawberry ice-cream with; Maria sighed dismissively as Fayt draped his arms around her shoulders, hugging her for re-assurance that it'd end up okay in the end while both Nel and Albel left the room in the same direction, dark looks guarantying no-one would follow for some time. Mirage, on the other hand, just shrugged her shoulders, pulled out a can of soda from the still open fridge and began to drink undecidedly.

As the clocks hit the late hours, it was a united decision that everyone was to get some sleep. Everyone bid each other a good nights sleep before returning to their rooms. Mirage sat on the edge of her bed, considering the flight course to Luna Station tomorrow morning and her captain. "Well, he and Albel are getting along pretty well," she mused as she placed a useful star-chart onto her desk, "but it doesn't look firm. Also, he's still unresponsive." Mirage sighed as she started to change into her nightclothes. "Mother was right, Klausian men are as blind as moles when it comes to love." With a groan and another plan to catch Cliff's eye formulating slowly, Mirage finally turned off the lights and attempted to go to sleep.

Sophia padded around the room in her nightshirt and slippers, writing in her journal as she went. She talked of typical stuff, how she felt and so on, but today she made a special note about everyone's reaction to the fact that a there would be a new passenger, if only temporarily. As she sat on her bed Sophia flicked to the back of her journal and ticked several boxes and made a comment by the name of each of her companions. For Cliff: 'Blind, enthusiastic and typical self'; Albel had 'Typical with a hint of Nel'; 'Typical, with a hint of Albel' was written for Nel; 'Typical and weary' for Maria; 'Typical and on edge' for Fayt and Mirage had 'Typical and persistent'. Sophia grinned to herself as she clicked the lock on her journal shut, placed it underneath her pillow and began to sleep peacefully.

Fayt and Maria mused about tomorrow in their room. "Do you think it will be okay?" Fayt asked, resting his head on his hands. "I'm sure, just relax and go with the hunch." Maria wrapped her arms around Fayt's waist protectively and fell in a pleasant sleep. Fayt stayed awake for many more hours until he at last decided to forget about it and go with Cliff's hunch, as Maria had suggested.

Albel and Nel had not emerged since earlier that day. Clothes were discarded untidily on the floor and Nel was asleep in the bed, a satisfied smile contorted on her sleep lips. Across the room, a barely clothed Albel sharpened his sword determinedly, hissing darkly every few minutes as the thought of Cliff crossed his mind. "Both he and the new maggot had better be careful…"

The Eagle's captain was busy thinking in bed as he sorted through the day's events. It was a miracle they'd found the message advertising a courier job being signalled by a merchant ship and the pay out would cover all the payments he'd need to make for some time. But doubts still arose in his mind. "What if the girls being chased down, or is a complete nut case? I could be sticking all our necks on the line here…" He mused out loud. Cliff shook his blonde head and rolled onto his side. This would just be a quick job, no questions asked, and there is no chance the girl is a threat to the ship or it's passengers. "Just being typical paranoid me." Cliff uttered jokingly as he finally made an effort to fall asleep, and shortly did so.

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**A/N:** Okay, chapter 1 over with! If it's a little OOC with any characters, or you find any other faults, please tell me and I'll get straight to work on them. Also, please excuse any mistakes, it's my first online fan fic after all!


	2. Meeting the Passenger

**A/N:** Thanks to my first reviewers, Icedaggers and Maxmagnus20019. Without further ado, here's chapter 2. Oh, and apologises to any Albel fans that read this: I just needed an excuse to help Cliff and Leios' relationship and Albel was the first thing to hand. Sorry!

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Everyone was quiet as Mirage slowly and cautiously piloted the Eagle down onto the firm groundings of Luna Base. Yesterday's surprise, and in some cases, good mirth had departed just as quickly as they had arrived and were now replaced by nervousness and a sense of great unease. Even Cliff and Sophia, the two most upbeat people on board the Eagle with the exception of Peppita when she was around, had been reduced to nervous silence on Sophia's account and a worried expression and a tendency to snap harshly at anyone foolish enough to interrupt his thoughts on Cliff's. "We're here." Mirage stated to nobody in particular. Cliff sighed heavily. "Right, let's get out of here and collect Leios." He said as he left to round up the other crew members that were going down onto the base to collect the fare.

Cliff, Fayt, Sophia, Maria, Mirage and Nel walked out onto the landing bay. Albel had refused to come 'because of my own reasons, fool'. No one could be bothered to argue with him, not even Nel; the longer they could delay Leios and Albel meeting, the better chance the young woman would stay. Cliff was thinking on this when Sophia shocked him into reality as she bounced on the heels of her feet, pointing forward amongst a swarm of people regarding a monitor which displayed opening times for near-by theatre. "It's got to be her!" She said excitedly. Cliff followed the line of her finger and his eyes set upon the outsider nearest to the monitor. Around the woman's feet were dirty, battered bags which appeared to be hastily packed with bits and pieces. "Give me one good reason why she might be our passenger." Cliff challenged. "Because she's looking straight at us now and waving us over." Nel uttered as she took a few steps towards the woman in the crowd. Sensing he was beaten, Cliff trailed at the back of the group as they approached the throng of tourists.

"Hi, are you guys from the Eagle?" The woman asked, smiling broadly as Cliff shoved his way to the front of the group. "Yes we are. I take it you're Leios Corrigan?" He asked, stretching his hand out. Leios nodded as she shook Cliff's hand. "Well, who are your group?" She asked as she placed her hands behind her back and observed the others. Cliff scratched his head. "The blue haired boy is Fayt," Fayt shook Leios' outstretched hand and uttered a quiet 'hello', "to his left is Maria," another hand shake, this time initiated by Maria, "the red head to my right is Nel," another hand shake and an warm welcome from Nel, "to my left is Sophia," Sophia hugged a surprised Leios and hoped her stay onboard would be a good one, "and behind me is my pilot Mirage." Mirage stepped forwards and shook Leios' hand earnestly. "Hello to all of you! But, sir, you forgot to tell me your name." Cliff seemed shocked for a second then laughed at his own ignorance. "Well, Ms Corrigan, I'm Cliff Fittir, captain of the Eagle." Leios nodded. "Pleasure to meet you, Captain Fittir. Shall we go to the ship?"

After unsuccessfully threatening his way through several bouts of teasing from Mirage calling him 'Captain Fittir' Cliff trailed at the back of the group and took in Leios' appearance. She was around the same height as Fayt, maybe an inch or so taller than him. She had dark brown hair than flowed down her back to her hips and contrasted with her pale cream skin. She wore a basic pair of dark blue trousers with a simple brown leather belt holding them up, a white sleeveless, hooded top and a pair of scuffed walking boots on her feet. As he slowly began to catch up with the front of the group, Cliff noticed what jewellery she wore. A pair of silver studs in her ears, a silver ring on her left thumb and she wore a pendant of some sort on a black cord, but the pendant itself was hidden beneath her top so Cliff could only speculate what hung from the cord. "Uh, Cliff? I'm sorry about calling you Captain Fittir; I didn't know what sort of ship I was boarding so I thought 'better safe than sorry'! But still, I apologise." Cliff smiled warmly at Leios. She had obviously thought he was looking at her because of what she had called him. Shaking his head, he swept over to Leios' left and plucked the bag from her hand. "Forget about it, okay? Everybody slips up now and again." Mirage shot Cliff a look as if to say 'and you should know'. Cliff glared back but Mirage missed it as she adjusted the bag she was carrying; Leios had brought six so everyone agreed to carry on between them. "On the subject of names," Leios brought up suddenly, "if you like, you can call me Lei. It's just simpler than Leios and it'd remind me off…" Leios trailed off, voice heavy with emotion. "Home?" Mirage finished, wrapping her free arm around Leios' shoulders. Leios nodded and shook her head, wiping away the last of her thoughts. "Best not dwell on the past, hm?" Leios smiled weakly. Mirage was going to agree but Nel get there before her. "We're here."

"Home sweet home!" Cliff joked and managed to get a chuckle out of Leios and Sophia, everyone else just groaned. However, Cliff's bright mood was dampened when they reached the entrance to the Eagle. Standing in the doorway, leaning against its frame was Albel. He let out a slight 'hmph' and wandered towards Leios. When he finally reached her, he looked her up and down and scowled. "Pathetic little maggot." His clawed hand reached out and grabbed Leios' cheek suddenly. Leios gasped and her left leg swung up in a swift kick, the result making Cliff and Fayt turn away quickly and the girls stand in shock. Albel was doubled over in pain, panting as Leios stumbled backwards with her hands raised to her face. "I-I am sorry! So, so very sorry!" She managed to whisper. Albel had recovered enough to glare at her. "You'll pay for that, fool." With a twist of pain on his face, Albel shot forward, clawed hand extended. A single finger managed to graze the skin on Leios' left arm before Cliff caught Albel and grasped him tightly. "I don't care what you say about me or anyone aboard my ship but you may never, ever hurt them!" Cliff raged, his hold on Albel become slowly tighter and tighter. "Is that clear?" Albel's face was now emotionless. "Clear." Cliff released Albel and pushed him away as he walked towards Leios to check her arm. Albel stared at Cliff for a few seconds before sweeping into the ship. "Wow, Cliff, I've never seen you that mad before." Sophia murmured as the other gathered around Leios, Cliff and Mirage. "Yeah, well, let's hope I don't have to get that mad anymore." He uttered as he tenderly ran fingers over the cut. "You're lucky, it's not that deep. It won't take long to heal but in the meantime…" Cliff dug in his pockets and pulled out a small handkerchief and held it onto the cut. "Keep it there till we get into the medical room, 'kay?" Leios nodded and slowly the congregation pushed on into the ship.

Cliff guided Leios to the kitchen. It had taken a matter of minutes for Cliff to heal the cut but Leios had interrogated him about his ship and his crew, and Cliff had felt inclined to tell her some of the more interesting parts of both. Leios had absorbed every word with a keen interest that Cliff hadn't encountered for a long time so he had made every sentence well thought out and purposeful. When he had finished Leios thanked him and told him that no one had bothered to give her such detailed facts before. "Mainly just orders and bits and pieces that I was required to know." She had admitted when the pair left the medical room. "But I'm glad you're different Cliff." He thought about that until he reached the shut door of the kitchen. "Hold on a second." He smiled at Leios before opening the door and peering inside. "Okay, you can go in now." Leios cautiously pushed the door open and received a shock when Sophia ran at her full pelt and wrapped her in a warm hug. "We hope your stay is a very good one, Lei!" Sophia said as she let Leios go to reveal a sponge cake gooey with thick pink icing with green spirals on top waiting to be devoured on the side. Nel, Mirage, Maria and Fayt were standing near the cake, edging towards it with careful deliberation. "One more step and you'll be sucking your slice through a straw." Cliff said, loud enough for only the four to hear as he passed them to get a couple of cans of soda out for everyone. Leios hurried to the cake and grinned. "Thanks for the cake guys." Fayt shook his head. "It was Sophia's idea, you should be thanking her really." Sophia just blushed and waved the praise away. "Anyway, are you going to eat that?" Cliff smiled greedily. "You won't be having any even if she doesn't. You're getting kinda fat." Mirage poked Cliff's stomach playfully and he groaned. Ignoring Mirage's jibes about Cliff's waistline, Leios cut the cake into six pieces. When Nel asked about only cutting six slices when there was seven people on board, Leios just smiled darkly and uttered something to do with 'sweet revenge'. Nel smiled slightly and shook her head as Leios took a bite into her piece. She felt herself glow as the sweet, sugary icing flowed into her veins and made her feel at home. The only thing that could spoil what would be a sadly short trip was if 'they' arrived but Leios put that thought to the back of her mind as Cliff turned to her desperately, asking if he looked fat. "I think you look just as good as the cake did." She replied happily. Knowing that she had just fuelled Cliff and Mirage's argument for several more minutes, Leios settled her back against the wall and watched the mirth.

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Meanwhile, out in space, a small scouting fleet scanned the area for signs of their prey. Surely the youngling couldn't have gone far without a ship to carry them. But a dark voice reported that a signal had been picked up advertising a job. The job was to carry a person into the safety of their noble protectors but it had appeared to be taken up. Green eyes regarded the screen. "Find the carrying ship and when you do, destroy it…" The dark figure bowed and hurried from the room. They were determined to find their prey, and once they did, it would spell the end of all their problems…


	3. Setting Off

**A/N:** Sorceress Myst, don't worry, Nel is back in control today!

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Leios had a pleasant first night on board the Eagle, while it still remained docked in at Luna Base. Rising with a groan, she sluggishly washed and changed before attempting to find the kitchen off the back of a blurred memory. After ten minutes of checking every unlocked room, Leios found the Kitchen but remained outside the door. She could hear somebody- no, some people- inside talking and her old habit of eavesdropping kicked in. Cautiously, Leios approached the door and rested her ear against it. The first voice she heard sounded male. "…I don't get her. I mean, she seems okay but what she did to Albel-" "Looked like an instant reaction, like she had been in that situation on numerous occasions. This explains why she did it, but it's still unnerving to think why she had to have such sharp reflexes." "I know. She's definitely keeping something back from us." "Did you notice how upset she became when she thought of her home on the way here? Makes me think that she's seen some kind of trouble on her home world, which also explains the reflexes. But the thing is, what sort of trouble was it…?" Leios' hand had automatically reached for her pendant upon the mention of 'trouble on her home world'. When she noticed, she thrust it to her side furiously, trying to ignore the reason why it had raised. Leios returned her ear to the door and made sure the people inside were still talking before pushing the door open with a bright, yet forced, smile on her face. Before her sat Fayt and Maria, who's gossiping instantly stopped the moment she set foot inside the room. "Good morning!" She said cheerily and the pair returned the sentiments. "Did you have a good sleep?" Maria asked as Leios pulled out an apple from beneath a pile of fruit discarded on the side after last night's events. "Very good, thank you very much." She replied through a mouthful of apple. Suddenly the door opened again, and Albel entered the room.

Albel looked just as enraged as he had yesterday after the little 'incident'. He stormed passed Fayt and Maria, and his only reaction to Leios as he opened the fridge door was his fingers twitching on his clawed hand. Leios could sense now was not the time to speak with him and simply ignored him as he closed the fridge door, juice held in his natural hand. Nel trailed in shortly after him. "Have to make sure he doesn't do anything rash." She explained over a slice of toast. "As if I would do anything of the sort, fool." Albel spat at Nel, who simply rolled her eyes. "Sure, Albel, just keep telling yourself that." After seeing that Nel was the only on who could keep any form of control over the red and blonde haired man, Leios decided to sit close to her as a precaution. Slowly, the rest of the ship woke up and entered the Kitchen in desperate need of food. Although Albel's presences ensured that everyone was quieter, breakfast conversation was amusing none the less, especially as the 'Fat Fight', as Sophia had dubbed it, still raged on between Cliff and Mirage. "I'm not fat." Cliff mumbled after Mirage made a sly comment about his weight for the fifth time in two minutes. Both Leios and Sophia reached over to him and patted his arms. "We don't think you are fat." Sophia smiled. "Yeah, we think you are quite trim, don't we Sophia?" Leios asked, and received an energetic nod in reply. "Well…it's good to know somebody likes the way I look around here." Cliff fixed both Sophia and Leios with a broad grin. Sophia giggled like a schoolgirl and Leios blushed, hastily returning her attention to the half eaten apple in front of her. Mirage sighed and hung her head. "Looks like you win." She mumbled lowly. Cliff flung his arm around her shoulders, beaming. "You put up a good fight, my friend." He said, snatching a slice of toast from the center of the table and taking a celebratory bite out of it. "Hey Cliff, when are we setting off?" Nel asked, ignoring the murderous glare Albel was giving her. "Uh, soon?" He offered as a reply, settling into his chair to think about it. Nel sighed quietly and looked at Fayt, who was eyeing Leios suspiciously. "What's up?" Fayt looked surprised for a second then shook his head, as if just waking from sleep. "Nothing, nothing." He denied quickly turning his attention to Sophia and striking up a conversation about their past exploits on the Luna Station. The dark looks Fayt had been giving Leios had also not escaped the attention of Cliff, who thought on it as he finished his toast. He glanced at Leios, who was still pink-cheeked from earlier and decided that perhaps now was the best time to leave. "You ready to go, Mirage?" Mirage nodded and followed Cliff out of the room and into the cockpit before starting the engines and taking the Eagle out into space.

The Eagle cruised leisurely through space, neither Cliff nor Mirage wanting to strain the engines yet. "How long will it take to get to Expel at this rate?" Cliff asked, wanting to break the silence. Mirage tapped at the keys on her console and looked at the screen in front of her. "Two days if the rate remains constant, but we're hardly going to keep going through the night." Cliff nodded, remembering the nightmare-ish task of night driving where he and Mirage switched over from sleeping to driving every few hours. They had both nearly ripped each other's heads off by the time morning came, and Mirage still had to drive on very little sleep. Suddenly the ship jerked wildly and an alarm began to shrill loudly. "What the hells going on!" Cliff demanded. Mirage hacked her console quicker than before. "We received a hit to the right side of the ship. Scans show that there is a medium sized ship in the near by vicinity that fired the shot at us." Cliff began to read the information inputs on the screen quickly. "Any idea why they attacked us?" He asked but Mirage ignored him. "Cliff, the ship is about to fire another shot, so stop thinking about why and start thinking about how the hell we are going to avoid it!" With a fowl twist in his stomach, Cliff began to type co-ordinates into his console while pushing the concern that the attacking ship had something to do with Leios to the back of his mind.


	4. Troublesome

For the second time, a catastrophic explosion rocked the Eagle, causing the passengers within to hold tightly onto on fixed object. "What the hell is going on?" Fayt panted after the shockwaves of the second attack receded. Leios looked guilty as she released her grasp on sideboard, legs still shaky from shock. "I need to see Cliff." She murmured to herself as everyone else in the room checked on each other. As the others worried and fussed, Leios began to creep towards the door only for it to swing open, Cliff darting in behind it. "Everyone okay?" He asked breathlessly. Everyone made a positive comment or gesture and Cliff sighed wearily. "We're under attack by an unknown ship. Get into the holds and strap yourself down, this is going to be rough." He ordered and everyone obeyed, grudgingly or not. However, Leios hung behind and attracted Cliff's attention. "Cliff, I need to speak with you urgently! It's to do with the attacks!" She said as Cliff caught her arm and began to drag her towards the holds. "I don't care! I'm letting you get yourself hurt, ya hear!" Leios looked at Cliff's face. It was wrinkled with worry and fear greater than that she had seen in the Klausian's face during her time aboard the Eagle. Suddenly she found herself thrust into the holds and turned to look at Cliff before he left. "Promise me you won't get yourself killed." She uttered loud enough only for Cliff to hear. His dark expression softened briefly as he swore he wouldn't before closing the door and locking it behind him. Leios turned around and looked at her companions.

Fayt and Maria sat on her right, both strapped tightly to something but still close enough to grab hold of one another should the situation call for it. Albel and Nel sat beside each other to her left, their hands clasped together but their eyes not meeting. Maria sat beyond Albel, her knees brought up to her chest as she hugged them for comfort. With a fearful sigh, Leios wandered over to Maria and sat beside her, reaching her arms around Maria's shoulders to comfort her. As another explosion ricocheted through the ship Maria quickly hugged Leios in return. "What's happening?" She whimpered into Leios' shoulders but she could provide Maria with no answer, or she didn't want to answer yet. "Just put faith in Cliff and Mirage, they'll get us through."

Both Maria and Cliff were panicking. The last hit had knocked the Gravitic Warp Engines off-line, prevented the planned quick escape. "Who are these people?" Mirage thought out load, trying to make sense of the events. "Never mind that now, Mirage! Direct all the power that we were using to get the engines ready and put it into the shields!" Mirage nodded and hacked at her console. Soon a thin shield surrounded the Eagle, easing the pilots' minds marginally. "Cliff, they've fired a fourth shot, it's going to hit in five…four…" Cliff didn't listen to the rest, he was to busy trying to get a fixed destination which would also protect them from the attack, but the only suitable place was many light years away. Then the shot hit, or more precisely, clipped the Eagle and jolted Cliff to the waking world. "How much damage sustained?" He barked at Mirage, straining to find some means of escape. "Not much but it hit the holds…" Mirage's voice trailed off. Both of them prayed that no one had been hurt in the blast and proceeded with trying to find somewhere to escape to.

"That last one sure was something." Fayt uttered as he rose from the floor. Nothing too bad had happened; pieces of ceiling had fallen and a couple of panels broke but other than that they were safe. As he looked around everyone pulled themselves up from the floor, Leios looking intently at the door. "I'll go inform Cliff that we're okay." She offered. No body cared at the time so she left Maria with Nel and made her way to the door. Although Cliff had locked it the door was now ajar, broken by the blast. Wasting no time, Leios began to sprint up towards the cockpit, determined to make Cliff listen to what she had to say this time.

"Cliff!" The captain of the Eagle turned to see a weary looked Leios enter the cockpit. "You're meant to be in the holds." He told her, as if she had forgotten. "Everyone is okay and if you want to see the end of the battle alive I suggest you listen to me." Cliff was going to retaliate but the look of seriousness on his young companion's face silenced him. "I know who is firing at the ship." Leios began. "It is the Trebbaldi, a group of magic fearing, technology loving rebels from my planet. They attacked the institute where I was taught mag- uh, Symbology, I mean- through out my life. Last year, my uncle Harvard got to the institute and pulled me out of there just in time to avoid the last attack by the Trebbaldi, which wiped out everyone else at the institute. If I had stayed an hour more I would have been blown up like the rest…but this is beside the point. They want to make sure that no Symbology wielding member of our race can return to my home planet and 'contaminate' the gene pool, as they put it. So they've begun to hunt me down like a dog, plaguing anyone and everyone I've met. Sure, I lost them at the Luna Base but that was hardly going to provide cover for the rest of my life, so it was decided I go to Expel and live on the grounds of a Symbological University there, which was in constant link to my own. They also provide one of the greatest protection services to anyone on its campus so it is certain I'd be safe there…" Cliff stared wide-eyed at Leios. It appeared the night before he picked up Leios he had been right to think that she'd be trouble. But this couldn't be helped now, so he instead reached out a hand and caught her right hand, rubbing it soothingly. "I'm sorry for what happened to you." Leios shook her head, wiping tears away. "At least I have memories." She smiled softly and pulled the pendant from beneath her shirt. A battered circle of bronze engraved with what Cliff guessed to be the Institute's emblem hug lazily on the front of her shirt. He reached out and touched it lightly, fingers trailing over every detail. Leios' hand took Cliff's and held it tightly. "Let me help you get out of this mess…" Cliff nodded and quietly Leios swept over to Mirage and began to tell her everything she knew about the Trebbaldi's technology, praying it would help the Eagle to escape its pummelling...


End file.
